Plant-fueled power plant puts out first sparks of electricity in Indian River County

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A light bulb shined in Indian River County on Wednesday when INEOS New Planet Bio-Energy created power.

For County Commissioner Peter O'Bryan, the bulb is both metaphorical and literal as the local project begins turning yard and vegetative waste into renewable energy and advanced cellulosic bioethanol.

"The biggest thing it does for Indian River County, we've been working very hard the last five years that we're business friendly and we want new technology here," O'Bryan said. "I think something like this will light up the world map and everybody is going to be looking to Vero Beach and Indian River County.

"I think it's huge."

For the time being, the project is ramping up. But eventually the joint-venture project annually expects to produce 8 million gallons of advanced cellulosic bioethanol and six megawatts of power using renewable goods such as yard and vegetative waste. The bioethanol production has not started, but the electricity started Wednesday, according to a company news release. Full production should start during the first quarter of 2013.

It's a major step in a long process that began with conversations between project officials and county staff in early 2009. The U.S. Department of Energy gave the project a $50 million cost-matching grant in 2009 to help the project, which had a $130 million investment.

INEOS New Planet, of Vero Beach, is a joint venture of California's New Planet Energy and the global chemical giant INEOS, headquartered in the United Kingdom. The companies combined to build an ethanol plant on Oslo Road where Ocean Spray Cranberries once produced grapefruit juice.

"Obviously, this is a very complex process and a lot of moving parts, and so when they have a milestone like this, I think it's always great news that they're being able to demonstrate that they can do what they talked about doing."

The facility has 60 full-time employees and an annual payroll of $4 million, according to a news release.

The joint venture expects to produce bioethanol sometime during the fourth quarter.

The facility, southwest of 74th Avenue and Oslo Road, is the first large-scale project in the United States to get registrations from the Environmental Protection Agency to use such waste to produce the bioethanol. The facility also produces electricity.

The energy will power the facility along with as many as 1,400 Vero Beach homes.

INEOS' patented process will use bacteria to produce ethanol from the gas of the fermented plant material. Plans call for the center to consume 150,000 tons annually of yard waste. The facility was completed in June, and the project received federal approval to produce bioethanol in August.

"The production of renewable power is a significant benefit of our technology. The power generated improves the energy efficiency and greenhouse gas savings of the facility while contributing to the base load of renewable electricity for the local community," INEOS Bio Chief Executive Officer Peter Williams said in a news release. "We look forward to rapidly rolling out this technology globally to provide the benefits of bioethanol and renewable power from waste to local communities."